Today I found myself embracing the realization that I’m a BAD ASS NOMAD!
This past year has been one of reinvention, new opportunities, and stepping fully into the life I dreamt of when I first started out on the road. Even though I’ve spent years on and off as a solo nomad, after a particularly devastating breakup I’ve spent the last year and a half in deep healing, finding myself again. (IYKYK)
As I feel my sacred energy returning, my creativity has flourished. I’ve created an offering for nomads called Reiki Coaching for Nomads, spent time authoring a piece of writing that will be included in an anthology about women on the road, committed to my music with an online singing course, and this week bought a guitar, trading in my old guitar for a full-size Taylor that fits me perfectly and sounds like it came from heaven.
Over the last two days I pulled everything out of my van, clearing out old energy and making room for fresh energy to flow in my life.
I bought a little screen shelter that’s supposedly easier to handle than the Clam shelter I used to own, which I plan to use for Reiki Coaching when I get back out to the desert and my nomad community. The sales page said it only weighed 13 pounds. LIES! LOL. I knew as soon as I got it out of the box that it was more than that, and when I weighed it, indeed, it was 17 plus pounds!
When I add an item that big, it’s time to rethink what I’ve already got stored in the van.
Cue another big ass purge!
It’s Fascinating How Our Living Space Often Reflects Our Internal State.
So, two days ago I went through everything in my van. Every drawer, every under- bed bin, every basket. Two tarps? Nope, one has to go. Two cut off sweat pants? Nope, down to one. Haven’t worn that sentimental t-shirt in years? Gotta go. Journals that don’t reflect my present life? Gotta go. Books I’ve never read? Gotta go. The cool oversized rainbow umbrella I haven’t used in YEARS? Gotta go!
And today, I pulled all the drawers out of the metal frames, and tightened every nut, screw, and bolt. There are 2 more frames not visible in this pic that needed work, and as you see by the before and after pics it was a worthwhile project!
And while I was out there pulling and purging and tightening screws I thought to myself … I AM A BAD ASS NOMAD! At 66 years old, women my age are either out there still having adventures, or have given in to the myth of old age, sitting on the porch in a rocking chair watching the world go by.
I’ve spent the last 8 years traveling back and forth across the country sleeping in truck stops, camped without any amenities in forests and deserts, and continue to live in a minivan without modern conveniences!
I am so fucking proud of myself.
I’ve survived, and then thrived after deep psychological harm from an abusive father, spent most of my twenties in a Christian cult, became a single parent of two girls and had to learn how to support myself and them, then had my life fall apart with the onset of a physically devastating chronic illness. After each blow I’ve committed myself to healing, and each time learned more about WHO I AM.
Now as I continue to call back more of my precious soul energy, energy that I’ve more than paid my dues for, I feel the creativity building that will not only shape a beautiful life for myself, but that will expand to help other human beings.
With every set back in my life I’ve come back stronger.
Sure, I know I’m going to pay tomorrow with fatigue and muscle dysfunction, and I’ll need some serious recovery time, but today I am reveling in the labor I’m able to accomplish that creates my bad ass nomad life.
After all my work, I toast myself with a little glass of salted caramel whiskey, a favorite treat, and a little medicine for my muscles. I’ve earned it!
